The Dan and Phil Continuum
by xXmidnightflamesXx
Summary: Dan and Phil, Dan and Phil, Dan and Phil...that's all they care to remember and that's all they acknowledge to have ever been...but then the unexpected happened...what now? (I'm aware i suck at summaries but just give it a shot, might be worth it)
1. An Average Day?

Daniel Howell is a British youtuber. Heard of him? I hope so. Dan became a youtuber at 18 when he met Phillip Lester. Phil has been his amazing friend for years and years on end. Phil was once the small boy with the adorable hats and lion on his shoulder...an extremely emo fringe swept across his forehead. He used to be a boy who lived with billions of potted plants, acting as though he was in his own little world. Then one day, Dan, a young a teenager not so unlike Phil began talking with him through youtube, talking in skype. Phil instantly loved that boy, though he'd never tell anyone. The way his eyes sparkled, the way he talked, his clothes, his interests, and his happy youth just made Phil feel this overwhelming happiness throughout his body. One day they finally met, which became one of the happiest days of Dan's life. What you don't know here is that Phil was also practically bursting from excitement (except he could actually control it.) A bit later in life the two of them got a phlat together, oh, I mean flat... Anyways, they began to live together like the adorable dweebs they were. Phil tried to do lots with Dan and showed him new things whenever he could and helped him in the worst of times. It absolutely killed Phil whenever Dan was upset.

One day, February 21st to be exact, Dan and Phil were out in London headed off to the shops. They stopped by a gaming store and picked up some new ones that Dan pointed out. As they were walking back, a small, grey kitten was stumbling around. They were over by a park when they saw it. Phil immediately wanted to go make a friend, but the kitten kept moving farther away. Dan wanted to tell him to leave it be, but it was too cute to watch Phil trying to coax the tiny ball of fur to let him pet it. Dan decided to tweet about it instead, "Will Phil ever be able to resist some adorable animal that he sees? No. The answer in no." He added a picture of Phil and the kitten, tagging him in the tweet. In the end, the kitten scurried off leaving only a disappointed Phil. Dan cheered him up by reminding him of the games that they had just purchased and they both headed off to their apartment.

* * *

"I don't think he'll ever snap out of it."

"Well what should we do?"

"There is nothing to be done. All we can do for now is monitor what happens."

"Poor mister, I wonder how he knew that other fellow..."


	2. Movie Night

"Any recent activity?"

"Possibly, but nothing concrete...he seems to be doing fine for now..."

* * *

Today Dan was filming. It was a new addition to his video series, "Reasons Why Dan's A Fail." Dan spent most of the day holed up in his room talking about his inability to leave something unmemed though he constantly restated that he didn't find that to really be a fault. Later that evening Phil was editing his video for him. _But how can I edit out the bad parts, when it's all good? I mean, it's Danny. Ah, oh well._

"Hey Dan," Phil began, speaking to Dan who was across the sofa, "Do you want to watch a film later?"

Looking up from his tumblr scrolling, Dan replied, "Er sure, were you thinking of anything in particular?"

"Well," he paused, rummaging in a nearby bag, "When I was out earlier, I bought The Wind Rises, do you want to see it?"

"Oh I've literally been dying to watch that, although I bet I've said that before," Dan said and saw Phil trying to hide a tiny grin which meant he couldn't help but grin himself.

Later, once the video was ready to be uploaded and the boys were Tumblr-ly satisfied, Phil put in the movie.

"Oh wait, we should get some popcorn!" he said. "I'll be right back!"

Phil put the popcorn into the microwave and stepped back, accidentally bumping into something and tripping a bit.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize I was so close, Phil," Dan said, catching him by his side. "At least you didn't fall this time." The snack began to pop in the microwave. "I just wanted to see if we could have the sweet ones this time," he said. The microwave beeped as Phil nodded, and they poured the treat into a bowl. They added some sugar and then Dan brought it to the couch.

When they were back in their seats, Phil pressed play on the movie.

"I bet this is going to be good," Dan said, and they stayed there, not bothering to move at all once it was done.


	3. Cinnamon Culture

"Sir! Sir, come quickly!" a young man shouted.

"What?! What is it?" someone said, rushing down a hall lined in white.

"It seems-I-I think we have activity!" the first yelled in response.

* * *

Dan and Philly were going down to Cinnamon Culture, a bit of a fancy restaurant just for the fun of it. Dan was driving.

"Radio?" Phil asked.

"Sure," Dan said, hitting the button in the process.

" _Hellooo,_ " the speakers sang out.

"Oh f*ck not again," Dan said, reaching out to switch it once more.

"No, waittt," said Phil, and he started singing, "-must have called a thousand timeeess!" He grinned, turning towards Dan. "To tell you im sorry for everything that-uhh-ive donee!" Phil dramatically acted out each line, making sure each string of words was heavily puntuated and his smile just got bigger and bigger. He could see Dan slowly breaking.

Dan laughed, "Phil, what are you even doing?"

"Shush you know you love it." He laughed again, intensifying his expressions once more, "...Hellooo from the outtsideee!"

Dan laughed once more and finally joined in,"-at least i can say that i trieddddd."

"Yes! Mission accomplished! Oh yea uh-"

" **For breaking your heartt**

 **But it don't matter**

 **It clearly doesn't tear you apart anymoreee,"** they sang together in a duet. They kept singing and laughing in between, glancing at the road every few moments.

"Dan this is so great!"

"I agree," Dan said, chuckling once more. He held Phil's gaze for a moment... _those eyes_ he thought. Phil caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, Phil whipped his head around and away to look back outside, only, there was a..a bright light.

"DAN!" he shouted, hysterically pointing in front of them and could faintly hear Dan yelling 'Phil' back..and then...everything went black.

The light,a bright piercing light, the car...the-the horns..and sirens...flashes of white...a-a ceiling and strangers looking down on him. Windows...ugh, the light...everything is so bright. Dan...where's...where's Dan? Why isn't Dan with the strangers what's...where's Dan?!

* * *

"Quick! We need to hold him down!"

"Yes! Everyone in! He's waking up! I repeat, he is _waking up_!"

Phil was in a hospital bed, flailing about. His eyes were closed but he was clearly gaining consciousness and was struggling to move out of the binds controlling him physically and mentally. Then suddenly, his eyes burst open, the popping blueish color showing a striking amount of alarm. He looked around at all of the people surrounding him and was confused.

"Dan" he managed to choke out before falling back onto the bed and passing out once more.

"Okay everyone, calm down. Ms. Steinfield, I need you to monitor him as much as possible, and I want to be contacted immediately once he awakes. He's broken through the mental barrier of the accident, but the abrupt wake up and struggle drained him instantly. He will wake up soon...very soon."

"Alright, you have your orders. Back to work! Lets move on out! Come on people! This isn't the only patient in this bloody place!"

...Ms. Steinfield looked back at the unconscious patient..."I hope you wake up soon, mister...we sure have a lot to tell you..."

 **A/N with the extreme popularity of the song I'm assuming you could recogmize it was Hello by Adele that the two were singing but if not, you do now! Creds to Adelleeee**


	4. Waking Up

The bright light streamed into his eyes. Blink. Blink again. Phil sat up slowly, holding his head with one hand, his head throbbing with pain. It took him a moment to focus.

He looked around the room slowly, recognizing that it was a hospital with its pure white curtains and walls and everything else. He made to get up and felt a horrible aching throughout his body as he did. Phil finally stood, tentatively putting pressure on each foot before stepping. " _I'm never this careful,"_ he thought.

The hospital looked unlike any hospital that Phil had seen before. There were odd things around, and a photograph on the wall depicting a landscape that was unbeknownst to Phil.

He stumbled towards what he presumed to be the bathroom and did as he needed. He went to scrub his hands clean and looked up, seeing his reflection in a mirror for the first time.

Phil shut off the water and reached up to touch his face. There was a bandaid covering most of his head and just above his eyebrows he could see a purple bruise peaking out. There was a scrape on his neck and and a wrap around his forearm with more bruises peaking out from beneath it. There also seemed to be another bruise or some other injury around his tummy. Some hair was sticking up where it hung out of the head wrap, and it was much longer than he remembered it.

Phil sighed and leaned back against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground and held his head in his arms. He could remember everything that had happened. " _How could it have gone so wrong?"_ he thought. He took a moment just to still his breath and stay calm. " _He has to be okay...Dan has to be..."_

A few minutes later, Phil stood up. He went back over by his bed and hit the button to call a nurse as he was nauseous and tired, making him unable to explore or do anything else.

A woman burst in a moment later, her eyes widening in surprise at the fully conscious man staring back at her. She quickly composed herself and stepped into the room, shutting the door.

"Er, 'ello. I am Nurse Dewey..do you need any immediate assistance?"

"..Well I suppose not but i do have some questions and such."

"Right well you see you've been in a coma andd I need to go tell the others that you have awoken. So if you excuse me, sir, I will back in just a moment with more people who should be able to help with you're questions...Er, right. I'll be right back." Nurse Dewey then went back out the door, and phil settled, partially sitting and leaning on the bed. He traced a pattern on his left forearm (the one that was wrapped up) with the tip of his index finger as he waited.

The door opened again and a new woman returned with the other trailing in her wake. It sounded as though a man was also coming towards them from down the hall, possibly with others.

"Hello, I am Ms. Steinfield. Its Phillip, correct?" the woman asked.

"Er, yes, but Phil is fine...so whats happe-"

"Hello, there Phil! Nice to finally meet you!" said some male doctor who had barged in the door. "I'm Dr. O'Conor!" He held out his hand for Phil to shake. These people were giving him a headache, but he shifted his wait and gingerly shook the man's hand.

"So er, could you tell me abo-" Phil began again but was cut off.

"I'm so glad to see you awake!" Ms. Steinfield said.

"Oh yes, very happy," added O'Conor. Phil opened his mouth to speak again but O'Conor began speaking before he could even get the first word out. "So yes, we know you have questions, but we have elected to ignore them until after your tests. You've just now woken up so there will be lots to do!.. I suppose you should sleep a bit first though. Well, we start monitoring and taking your test tomorrow morning okay? Okay!" And with that, he left.

"Er right," said Nurse Dewey. She quietly and nervously went towards the door and there was an odd clatter outside the door that sounded like someone dropping a wooden pen. Odder still was that Ms. Steinfield glared at her presumed place by the door. She quickly turned back though and put her smile back, situating Phil for the rest of the time until his tests in the morning.


	5. Odd Hospital With The Answers

"Knock, knock!" said the peppy woman who walked into room 459- Phil's room.

Phil groaned and rolled over to avoid the light now spilling in. After a moment, he pushed himself up in the bed, blinking until he could see just about clearly. "Need glasses," he mumbled to himself, but to his surprise, the woman who he now recognized as Mrs. Steinfield just became wide-eyed and started fumbling with something in her pocket before stepping out of the room. _What's that about?_ Phil thought. He didn't have to wonder for much longer because after a few moments, she stepped back into the room with a pair of glasses that were unfamiliar but worked perfectly.

"Um, thank you," he said..."but where? how did you..?"

"Oh, must be a coincidence I suppose!" Mrs. Steinfield quickly responded. "Now come oN, dear! We have your tests today remember!"

How could Phil forget? He didn't really want to move, but they promised to answer his questions once they were done and so he finally found the strength to rise.

"Oh goody! Come on now, Mr. Lester," the energetic woman said, leading Phil out of his room and down the hall.

* * *

The last three hours had been a mess.

Phil had been pushed and shoved between at least eleven different rooms to get blood tests, eye tests, a heart check, x-rays, and every test imaginable including a few odd doctors who just waved their hand very slowly in front of him while clutching something in either their right or left sleeve. They then somehow gave him an in-depth report on his mental state and other things said through code.  
As they had traveled through the halls, Phil saw a number of confusing things. First, he could have sworn that the man in 312 had been coughing blue fire, but when he asked the nurse, she just shook her head and pushed him along faster. Later, he saw a child in a waiting room with cat ears on...except they twitched and moved with the sound. She looked like she also was growing cat whiskers, but Steinfield disregarded this too. Phil saw a woman with dark purple skin, a boy with many burns and scars covering the left side of his face, and at some point he saw a sweet and elderly woman growling at a nurse who was trying to convince her to eat less. This must have all gone unnoticed by Mrs. Steinfield because she just pressed on and kept telling Phil that he must have been seeing things.

She had finally informed him that the majority of his tests were completed and had brought Phil back to his room about twenty minutes ago. Phil had now been alone for ten minutes as he waited for her to return with Dr. O'Conor and more importantly, his answers.

Phil was sitting in his bed again, dead tired from the day. The tests were supposed to help with different treatments for injuries and such, but nothing new had been done or given to him. With a start, he realized that he had no clue if his family was aware of his condition and looked for a phone, but there were none. What kind of a hospital has people breathing blue fire but no telephone?

A few moments later, the doctors finally returned.

"Hello Mr. Lester! Your tests went smooth enough I heard," said Mr. O'Conor looking quite pleased with himself.

"Mm I suppose," was Phil's only response.

"So...your questions?"

"Yes, finally. I would like to know where I am and where Dan is and I need to see him as soon as possible. Oh, and does my family know where I am? And why don't you have any phones and whO is that man in 312? I swear he was breathing fire! How long have I been gone also and when can I go home?!"

Mr. O'Conor nervously glanced over at Mrs. Steinfield. "...Are you sure that you are ready to know the answers?"

"Yes! Yes, of course I'm sure! Enough with the secrecy!" Phil answered because he needed his answers and he needed them now.

"Mm... well you see this isn't exactly an ordinary hospital and by that i do not mean that it is a mental hospital," O'Conor said. "You are in a hidden part of London-"

"But I live in London! I've never seen any of this in my life!"

"Please calm down, Sir. The hospital is called St. Mungos which you may not know but-"

"Isn't that the hospital in Harry Potter? And I need to know where Dan is."

"Ah that blasted series, but yes. The two hospitals are one and the same."

"Wait how could that be possible... but also, Dan?!"

"Mr. O'Conor, perhaps you should move on to another question?" Mrs. Steinfield intervened.

The doctor mumbled to himself before telling Phil that the man in 312 and other odd things happened because of the wizarding problems in the hospital. Phil was in absolute disbelief, but he decided that he needed to hear the rest of what was to be said. The doctor finished explaining and turned to go.

"Wait! You haven't told me about Dan! And why would I be here? I'm not a wizard!" Phil shouted out before he could leave the room.

The man quietly looked back and responded, "I am not particulary at liberty to say but, Dan...has been in a coma since you got here. The two of you were magically attacked and so we cannot heal you beyond what we already have. Your friend or significant other or whatever... he's a wizard." And with that, O'Conor left the room.

 **A/N I know, the chapter was messed up for weeks! Im so so sorry but now ive the stupid coding out of the way, why can that even happen? Anyways, happy reading!**


	6. Wizard?

_"Your friend or significant other or whatever... he's a wizard." And with that, O'Conor left the room_.

 _"What. Is going._ _On_." drifted on replay through Phil's head as he began breathing heavily. He was unsure when he had fallen to the floor, but he now was on his knees, his hands pressing into the cold linoleum at either side of his body, eyes glued to the fake tiles, while his brain wracked itself for answers.

 _"Are you okay, sir?_ " a worried Mrs. Steinfield asked as if she were eons away. He almost registered her continuing to speak but lost that train of thought instantly.

" _How could I not have known this?... Magic is real then?.._." It felt as though his thoughts were traveling miles a minute, and yet he couldn't get a strong enough grasp on any one question to work it out. His breathing eventually evened a bit and he sat up, pulling himself into his bed.

"-and it is quite a lot to take in..." said Mrs. Steinfield as her voice slowly shifted back into focus. "You know, you should be proud of your reaction and strength, most muggles wouldn't have made it and anyways Dan is a wizard so he should be fine..."

Phil let the nurse ramble on with her words of supposed comfort for a bit longer before he deemed her stay sufficient. "Thank you Mrs. Steinfield," he began, "I would appreciate it if you could leave me with my thoughts for a bit now, thank you for your help..."

"Oh..oh yes, you're quite welcome-I'll be leaving now-buzz if you need something." With that being said, the nurse left the room, closing the door behind her once more.

Phil let out a long sigh and laid back in the bed, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts were still plentiful but they had become more steady and he felt he could actually coherently think through a few...

It seemed that what bothered Phil the most was how and why he didn't know that Dan had been a wizard before the accident. As he pondered the idea of Dan as a wizard, some old memories started to resurface, memories of things disappearing and appearing in the blink of an eye, when moments before they had been somewhere completely different. He also recalled times when Dan had been upset or particularly emotional and a light had gone out or something had broken...

Actually, with a ghost of a smile, Phil remembered a time where he and the hobbit-haired Howell, otherwise known as Dan, were playing the horror video game Five Nights At Freddy's for their gaming channel on Youtube. The first time they played, Dan got scared so badly that he screamed and fell off his chair, all of the systems around them immediately shut down, especially the game itself. Later Phil found out that a few neighbors had encountered such an issue around that same time... The power came back a bit after the fallen man had calmed himself or rather, Phil calmed him, but, regardless, the previous footage had been erased when the power cut and the two had to refilm. Phil had always wondered what truly happened that night and now, he felt like it could be explained...

After some more deep thought, Phil recalled a few journeys where Dan had been driving and Phil had fallen asleep. When he had awoken, the two were almost always ages closer than the time span should have allowed although Dan always claimed there was no traffic whichwas the sole reason for the excess of covered ground. " _How odd,"_ thought Phil, " _Could that be explained with this too?"..._

Lost in deep thought, Phil eventually drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Moonlight sifted through the partly covered window, illuminating the bright white and a fitful Phil who was asleep on the hospital bed in room 459 _Car... driving, bright... bright lights.._ The messy-haired young man rolled over and his crumpled bedsheet finally fell to the floor. A _ccident, hospital, Dan..._ A sheen of sweat was covering Phil's body and his face was contorted in what seemed like pain. _But..Dan_... _DAN._ Bright but pale blue irises popped into view as Phil sat up with a start, breathing heavily. It seemed that now that he had recalled the events of the accident, he wouldn't be forgetting them...

After he had calmed down a bit, Phil couldn't himself back to sleep.

"3:13AM huh?" he said out loud to himself into the dim room. After a moment or two more, Phil decided that he wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon.

Phil gingerly stood from his bed and stretched his bruised and sore body. Grabbing the device holding his IV and other vitals, the man drifted off and out of the room. Phil wanted to find Dan, in fact, it was all he had wanted to do since he woke up, but no one would tell him anything about Howell or his condition. He read the names outside of each door (it looked like this floor had rooms that held people for long periods of time) and crossed a few more hallways without finding any "Dan Howell" inscribed in chalk. As Phil turned the next corridor, he ran into a man. The white covered man jumped a bit in surprise, but he, bald and dressed as a doctor, quickly brought Phil back to his room. It looked like that would be the end of tonight's adventure...

Phil spent another hour or so staring outside of the window and at the ceiling in order to think some more before he finally fell back asleep.

 **A/N Sorry its been so longg, thank you to my readers and any suggestions/ critiques are extremely welcomed (also, I'm hoping to upload the next chapter quite soon)**


	7. Searching

A week had passed, and Phil was still in the hospital, slowly gaining more ability to move and explore on his own.

Everything he saw was a new adventure, from the people to the flying messages and the owls and so much more. Even so, he hadn't found the most important thing; he still hadn't found Dan.

The doctors stealthily deflected any questions he had about other man, and this did little to calm Phil's nerves. He was beginning to feel this flurry of panic inside him, almost like he knew he would loose Dan if he didn't find him soon. This, along with a slight wave of boredom, spurred Phil into leaving his room in exploration once more. This time, it was just past midday, after the hospital had had their lunch break. The sun would soon be setting and dusting the horizon with its golden rays, but even that was pointless if the man couldn't find his other half.

Phil trudged down the hall, occasionally stopping to catch his breath as he dragged behind the IV he longed to rid of. He went down one corridor and then another, venturing in a direction he had yet to search. Soon, the last corridor came to a dead end, with no chalk-written "Daniel Howell" in sight. For a moment, Phil felt defeated. He had stopped to catch his breath, but then slowly sank to the floor with his head in his arms. "What if I never find him?" he whispered to himself, feeling the devastating fear that sank into his chest along with it.

As he sat there in the quiet hall, he started to hear something more and wearily lifted his head to scan the hallway. The sound was a whisper of sorts, seeping in from the walls surrounding him. The whisper he heard began wordless, existent solely as a stream of sound... but it slowly grew clearer. Eventually, he heard his name. As a man out of ideas, he followed the whisper, hoping against hope that it would aid him and lead him to Dan Howell. The whisper led him back a few doors down, to an unmarked door which blended into the wall. Phil cautiously nudged it open, revealing a dimly lit hall. Slowly, the man crept along it, his eyes wide open and searching as he walked all the way down until he reached five doors. He had reached a hidden section of patients. In front of each door, there was a tag with patient's names, unlike the chalkboards which marked all the others. It almost seemed to Phil that these rooms were somehow intended to be permanent... After that small reflection, he quickly checked the tags. On the fourth, he found him. He found Dan.

Phil reached out to twist the knob, finally feeling happiness bubble in his chest at the thought of seeing Dan once more. As his fingers wrapped one by one around the golden doorknob, he was suddenly knocked back by what might have been a blast of magic before he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Lila Green and Vincent Killigan were two nurses, both on their way to check up on the "special" patients. As they walked, they made light conversation, anything to pass the time.

"...this job is so unpredictable. Yesterday, I hadda help a man who's head had shrunken to the size o' an apple. It took the better half the morning as it apparently involved three different curses combined together," Killigan said with a bit of an Australian accent mixed with something indistinguishable.

"Oh you think that's bad?" Lila Green began, "This morning, I was working with an old woman who was being forced to say everything backwards while her hands kept swelling larger. As it turns out, she had been experimenting with potions when one of her cats altered the mix. She of course was unable to tell us that though... it was a bit stressful really..."

They continued talking as they walked on, eventually coming to the corridor and slipping inside. Only once they reached the end was there a break in their conversation. In this secret room was a man, slumped and unconscious by the final doors.

"What on earth..." Green trailed off, looking to see which door had been tampered with.

"Erm, Green... what do ya think 'appened? He obviously tried to enter one o' the rooms but.. 'ow?"

"How did he even find the room in the first place?" she asked in return, stepping away and pointing to the fourth door. "Dan Howell," she informed Vincent Killigan.

They both crouched before the black haired man, checking his condition.

"Says 'e's Phil Lester. Didn't Howell come in with someone like that?..." worry crossing his dark, freckle-specked face.

Lila Green just made a small grunt in response as she took her wand out from within her white robes. " _Rennervate_."

Phil abruptly sat up and scrambled to his feet. "What happened? What was that? _Where's Dan?_ " he frantically asked, spitting his questions out in one breath.

"Whoa, there fella. Take a breather. Nothing happened, ya jus' wandered a bit too far from ya room," said Vincent, attempting to calm him while the short Lila Green made sure he was uninjured.

"No, no I know Dan's here. I need to see him, please!," Phil said, attempted to burst through the two nurses who were holding him back. He stopped after a moment, out of energy, and whispered, "...please... I need to see him... I need to know that he's okay..."

The two nurses stood there, glancing at each other to seek out a solution. Vincent Killigan just shrugged, and Green turned back to the patient, knowing Vincent was more more completely useless. After a moment, looking at this man who seemed so broken, so like all his hope had already fled, she made her decision.

"Listen, its against our policies to let you into the room of a wizard in his condition, like all of these wizards here. This room, its a type of intensive care unit, but patients placed here often never wake. Still, don't lose your hope... and _I_ might lose my job for this, but come with me." Lila Green strode over to Dan's door, with Lester stumbling along behind her. Killigan was off to the side and took this as his queue to check up on the other patients as they had been originally intending. Lila whispered a spell and tapped the door with her wand before reaching to open it, giving Phil a wary smile. And, despite the circumstances, her faded blue eyes showed a warmth that comforted the anxious Phil, her mousy brown hair even reminding him of Dan.

Phil took drew in a long, steadying breath. _"Dan,"_ he thought, _"I'm finally here."_ And the two strode into the room, neither looking back.

* * *

 **A/N yes I'm an evil person who forgets to post and then leaves you with THIS, right before the good part, but I'm finally writing again so I promise I'll be back soon.**


	8. Visiting

**A/N I _try_ to post. I really do... anyways, enjoy.**

Phil had finally found Dan, and as he stepped into the room, his eyes welled up with tears. Phil had found him at last, but he hadn't been expecting Dan to look this bad. Unfortunately, there was no denying the truth as Dan lay battered and broken just a few feet away, occasionally wincing as he silently slept...

Nurse Green looked over at Phil sympathetically, but she had a job to do. Ignoring the teary man, she waved her wand over Mr. Howell, lighting up a display of his condition as recorded by the monitor. She checked his fractured skull, his mangled arm, and began to assess his brain activity. As she did so, Phil inched closer to see Dan properly. It wasn't a pretty picture, but it was still his best friend.

Glancing over, Green noticed the pained expression on Mr. Lester's face. "Listen... I know things look bad, horrible even, but the witches and wizards in this hospital are the best around,and we're all doing our best to help Mr. Howell and among others. Trust me, we'll find a way to help him."

Phil just nodded slightly and stepped a little closer to Dan while hugging himself. Bloody hell, he really looked wretched. There were bruises everywhere, a long streak of blood seeping through a bandage around his head, and an odd type of cast around his left ankle. His arms were also covered in cuts and scrapes but miraculously seemed unbroken. Dan didn't deserve this, and Phil wanted nothing more but to hug him, though of course he couldn't.

Not thinking, Phil reached out to touch Dan's face, just wishing he could be a tiny bit closer, a tiny bit more useful, even if that was pointless. Moments before he could, Lila Green jerked him back.

"He's in an _extremely_ delicate condition, and his mental activity is horrendous," she said. "I want him to recover as much as you do, Mr. Lester, but touching him right now would be unwise. Besides, we should be leaving. I've done all I can for the moment."

Phil just blinked at her. "...Leave Dan? But I just found him."

Green felt horrible as the man's previously bright blue eyes dimmed even further, but she knew sticking around wasn't going to help anything. Sighing, she gently pulled him from the room and locked it shut. Looking up, she realized tears had flooded Phil's eyes once more, and before she knew it, Lila found herself hugging him. Lester desperately clung back onto her, letting his tears fall and sucking in comfort from the shorter woman. It was a quite a bit before Phil finally pulled himself away.

"Feel better?" Lila inquired as she handed him a couple tissues.

"A bit actually... sorry about that," Phil said to her.

"Don't mention it, but we should both be going now. And just so you know, if you come back around this time two days from now, I'll be here again. I know he's important to you," Lila said, earning her a thankful smile before Mr. Lester headed back to his room and Green continued her work.

* * *

To wait is agony as they say, and agony it was. For two days, Phil was counting minutes. He still explored other areas of the hospital and tried to understand some of the odd magic, but the back of his mind kept ticking and ticking and waiting.

Sleeping was a chore as ever, but staying up gave Phil time to imagine finally getting to talk to Dan, while sleeping brought him back to Dan's excessive cuts and scrapes. What was there to do? _Could_ he do anything? Questions like these kept him up too, but ignoring them was practically impossible.

While waiting, Phil wrote a few letters home. He couldn't explain much, so Lester just rewrote variations of, "We're fine. Don't worry about us. We miss you."

Eventually, the time came for Phil to return to his friend. Triple checking the time, the man went to stand in front of Dan's hallway, alert ice blue eyes searching for Lila.

"Hello!" she piped up from beside him, causing Phil to jump a bit. Nurse Vincent was there too, giggling at Phil's reaction. "Oops, didn't mean to scare you. Anyways, let's get going."

The three then went on down the hallway. As before, they separated, and Phil accompanied Nurse Green to check on Dan.

Dan looked a tiny bit better, or maybe it was just his imagination. Phil couldn't tell. After a few minutes, Lila confirmed that, yes, Dan was healing. In fact, he had had new spikes in mental activity.

This time, Phil sat next to Dan. "I just wish you were here with me. I mean, _really,_ here, so we could talk," whispered Phil as Lila muttered about Dan's various injuries. "Come back to me..." Phil sighed and looked away from Dan's unresponsive face, tracing the wires and tubes connected to his body.

"Huh, his mental activity seems to be spiking again," Phil seemed to hear Lila saying from a distance. He was too busy staring with eyes wide as saucers while Dan slowly blinked his eyes open, a confused expression filling his face.

The rest happened in a muted blur. "Oh God, he's awake. Phil, listen, you need to go. Phil, come on!" Lila said, trying to pull him away. It was no use, so she ran out to get Killigan. Together, they pulled a distressed Phil away and called in the other doctors. Dan Howell was awake... and Phil was nowhere near him.


End file.
